Democrats Blast White House Over Lack of Permanent IRS Chief

The White House is “ignoring or evading” requirements for Senate-confirmed leadership at the IRS, Senate Democrats wrote in a new letter.

“Congress did not authorize the administration to bypass Senate confirmation by stretching acting service to its breaking point or by inventing new titles to perform statutory duties,” said the letter, led by Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). “Nor did Congress authorize indefinite vacancies in positions central to administering the tax laws.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also signed on.

There were seven permanent or acting IRS commissioners in 2025. Since the departure of President Donald Trump’s Senate-confirmed commissioner, Billy Long, in August, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has served as acting commissioner. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 generally puts a 210-day limit on serving in an acting capacity for positions awaiting nomination, and Bessent hit the limit earlier this month.

The administration created a new position—IRS CEO—to oversee day-to-day operations at the tax agency. Frank Bisignano, who also serves as the commissioner of the Social Security Administration, is in that job.

But Democrats lambasted the newly invented role in the letter, addressed to Bessent and Office of Presidential Personnel Director Dan Scavino, saying it undermines accountability.

“The position of IRS CEO is a fake job that Congress has never authorized,” said the letter dated March 9, “There is no reason to see the Trump administration’s appointment of a CEO as anything more than a strategy to avoid the vetting and confirmation process for a replacement commissioner.”